====== Wildcards in Mailings ======

In case you are sending mailings directly with SoSci Survey, you can use a couple of wildcards for personalisation purposes.

**Important**:Do not enter the link to the questionnaire manually; use the wildcard ''%link%'' or ''%link.html%''.

===== The Most Important Wildcards =====

^ Wildcard ^ Description ^ Notes/Requirements ^
| ''%salut%'' | Salutation with name and title, depending on gender | You can specify exactly how the salutation should look in the form. By default, the form of address is "Dear Ms. Last Name" or "Dear Mr. Last Name".|
| ''%link%'' | Personalized link to the questionnaire | The questionnaire can be selected below.\\ In the HTML version the following usage is useful:\\ ''%%<a href="%link%">To the questionnaire</a>%%''|
| ''%link.html%'' | link to the questionnaire (HTML-Version) | Shows a personalized link to the questionnaire in the HTML mail. The displayed text can be customized at //Link-Text//. The placeholder ''%link%'' is automatically changed to ''%link.html%'' by the //Create HTML from text version// button. |
| ''%custom1%'' | Custom data field No. 1 ||
| ''%custom2%'' | Custom data field No. 2 ||
| ''%custom3%'' | Custom data field No. 3 ||
| ''%custom4%'' | Custom data field No. 4 ||
| ''%custom5%'' | Custom data field No. 5 ||

With user-defined data fields you can display any individual text in the cover letter (also multi-line). This can be information such as where the contact information comes from or which company the invitation refers to. The custom information is best imported as a separate data column in a table with contact data, but it can also be entered individually with the contacts.


===== Wildcard for the Personal Salutation ===

Some placeholders are specially designed for creating personalized salutations. If necessary, use these wildcards for the fields //address women//, //address men// and //address unknown//.

The salutation itself is inserted in the email with the wildcard ''%salut%''.

^ Wildcard ^ Description ^ Notes/Requirements ^
| ''%formalname%'' | Last name of the person incl. title ||
| ''%title%'' | Title, if available ||
| ''%title+%'' | Title, if available | If a title exists, a space is automatically inserted behind it |
| ''%firstname%'' | First name, if available ||
| ''%firstname+%'' | First name, if available | With this wildcard, a space is automatically added after the name if a first name is present. |
| ''%lastname%'' | Last name, if available ||

===== Wildcard for special cases =====

^ Wildcard ^ Description ^ Notes/Requirements ^
| ''%access%'' | Participation code | The participation code is automatically included in the ''%link%'' wildcard. The participation code can only be passed in the link to the questionnaire (variable ''d'') and cannot be typed in manually. |
| ''%serial%'' | Serial number (Participation code) | If you work with serial numbers, you can use them directly by means of ''%serial%''. If serial numbers have not yet been assigned to the e-mail addresses, this is done automatically when the e-mail is sent. |
| ''%subgroup%'' | Subgroup | The subgroup (if any) will be applied exactly as it was set for an entry in the panel. |
| ''%link.attr%'' | The personalized link to the questionnaire (URL) for use in HTML mails (''&amp;'' instead of ''&''). This wildcard is normally used in the //Link-Text// field. ||
| ''%link.get%'' | GET part of the questionnaire link | The part of the personalized questionnaire link that is automatically appended (after a question mark) to the Internet address of the questionnaire. Normally, the the participation code with a presented ''d='' |
| ''%to.mail%'' | Recipient email address ||
| ''%to.mobile%'' | Mobile phone number of the recipient ||
| ''%name%'' | Sender name ||
| ''%email%'' | E-mail address of the sender ||
| ''%lock%'' | Link to delete or block the recipient's email address ||
| ''%date+XU%'' | Date in the future | Date X units (U) in the future. Allowed units are ''d'' (days), ''w'' (weeks) and ''m'' (months). The wildcard ''%date+7d%'' would e.g. output the date 7 days after sending the serial mail. |
| ''%sms.status%'' | SMS dispatch status of the serial mail to which the current reminder mail refers (only available in reminder/follow-up mails). ||
| ''%sms.datetime%'' | Timestamp of the SMS sending status ||

===== Additional Information in the Link =====

If you want to add further information (e.g. language or a reference) in the link to the questionnaire, you can simply do this after the wildcard ''%link%'':

  Click here for the questionnaire:
  %link%&r=A121&l=ger

An overview of possible entries in the questionnaire link can be found in the chapter [[url|The questionnaire link]].